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Mini comic convention brings artists from all over to Juneau
- Ellie Ruel
- 2 hours ago
- 3 min read
Alaska Robotics showcases, workshops, and comic camp connects art community to inspiration and each other
By Ellie Ruel
Juneau Independent
Colorful displays and chatter filled the Alaska State Library, Archives and Museum on Saturday as artists, illustrators and writers gathered for a miniature convention and showcase.
“I love that it's more about the artists getting together,” said Jason Poland, a cartoonist from Houston, Texas. ”We spend a little bit of time at the table, but the rest socializing, and it feels like we all make friends.”
Poland, who described his art style as a crossover between dad jokes and Dracula, heard about the annual event organized by Alaska Robotics from an artist friend in Austin. Poland was interested in the four-day comic camp following the convention.
“After this, we get on a bus and we go out to this campground,” he said. “There's a lodge and some cabins. And so we have workshops and we go on hikes.”
Poland was one of over 50 artists selling and showing work at convention tables. Displays of prints, stickers and buttons spanned three floors of the Andrew P. Kashevaroff Building. Workshops on everything from character design to drawing ran in the adjacent classrooms.
Local illustrator Natalie Wotjala sketched out a panel of her new gothic real estate agent comic as she sat at her booth. She said her style blends watercolor and sketching.
“They flip haunted houses,” she explained. “But they can't really do much about major asbestos problems.”
She volunteered at the convention last year and was inspired to apply for a table for this year’s event.
“I applied for a table this year and was just kind of in a mad rush to create as much as I could,” Wotjala said.
Like Poland, she said the convention allowed her to connect with a community of artists.
“It always feels like you're just kind of by yourself,” Wotjala said. “But when an event like this happens it's very nice to feel like you're in the community.”
Abigail Sparks and Dawn Pecson have been attending the convention since it started in 2016, and said it’s a good way to see what other artists are doing. Pecson donned a costume of a character from a mobile game, and Sparks dressed as Simon from the film “Iron Lung.”
“It's like the one time of the year where like every little nerd gets to bunch up and to combobulate with each other,” Pecson said.
She recalled showing graphic novelist Raina Telgemeier her art in elementary school, which inspired her to continue drawing.
“One of my fondest memories was looking at Raina Telgemeier when she was here, it was so cool,” Pecson said. “I showed her my art and she was like, ‘You have so much opportunity.’”
Sparks said she drew a similar level of inspiration from the convention this year. She does art in various mediums, including sculpture. This year Sparks was inspired by tiny bug figurines that encouraged her to make small, sellable sculpture pieces.
"It's the opportunity for local artists and even some out-of-town artists to come to a not-often prioritized location for these kinds of events,” Sparks said. “We don't really get concerts, we don't really get like huge conventions or anything.”
• Contact Ellie Ruel at ellie.ruel@juneauindependent.com.
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